Blog: What Should Avoid From Resume?

Blog: What Should Avoid From Resume?

Hiring manager roughly spends a few seconds to go through your resume and decide “I want this candidate to come for the interview.” They rarely have the time or resources to look at each resume closely and make up their mind. So if you want to pass this stage, you need to have some solid qualifications and the perfect resume is the absolute way to get it.

Below are 13 things you should discard from your resume right now:

1. An objective

It’s already obvious you want the job. If not, you won’t send your resume, isn’t it? But if you’re in a unique situation such as changing industries completely, perhaps it may be useful to include a brief summary.

2. Irrelevant work experiences

Discard any irrelevant work experiences from your resume. You might have been working as a babysitter in high school year, but the position that you applied for is not somewhat related to the teaching profession.

Indeed, past work experience might not appear to be directly relevant to the job but it might show another dimension, depth, ability, or even skill that may be relevant or applicable. But remember to only include experience if it really showcase additional skills and may help in getting the job.

3. Don’t be too personal

Keep your resume as professional as you could. Don’t include your marital status, religious preference and any other personal info. This info is a must in the past, but not now anymore. It could lead to discrimination which is illegal, so don’t include it. In fact, your house address also should be kept confidential. To be honest, it’s a security concern.

4. Only one phone number, not more than that

Please include only one phone number on your resume, and that number should be your recent and active cell phone number. The number that you use to answer any incoming phone calls and also messages.

56. Your hobbies

In many cases, nobody even cares about your interest. But still, some company would like to know about their employees. So if you think your hobby is relevant to the job, then just insert it. If you can’t see any benefit of putting it on your resume, then why would you waste a space and their time to read that, isn’t it?

6. Lies, lies, and more lies

Don’t try to tell lies in your resume. Do you know that they can trace and validate your facts? Telling lies already showcase your bad personality and attitude. If you don’t have those skills then discard them from your resume. Know that managers are more forgiving that job seekers may think. So if you lie, then just admit it and ask for forgiveness.

7. Keep it short and nice

A resume is a brief information about yourself. It’s not an essay competition who can write the longest essay. Keep it only one page or maximum 2 pages. Include only these information which are your work experience, skills, and educational background.

If they wish to know more, you can brief about it during the interview session. Hiring manager only looking for important keys and they just glance through it.

8. Inconsistent formatting
The format of your resume is just as important as its content. If you’re using bullet format then make sure you use it throughout your resume. Don’t mix it up by using bullet, numbering etc. Once you pick a format, stick with it.

9. Mind your grammar

Never describe past work experience using the present tense. Be careful with pronouns that you use, “I,” “me,” “she,” or “my,” should be discarded from your resume.

10. Insert professional email address

If you still use an old email address that you use since high school year, like andySk8123@gmail.com or marilyncute@gmail.com, it’s time to pick a new one. It’s not really that hard to create a new email.

11. Headers, footers, tables, images, charts

Come on, who even need to see all these fancy embeddings in a resume? Well, a well-formatted header and footer may look professional and some cool tables, images or charts may boost your credibility but they also confuse the applicant-tracking systems that companies use nowadays.

Even if you were an ideal candidate for the position, the systems might say the opposite. It such a waste effort, isn’t it?